The present invention relates to a modular structure for aeroponic cultivations.
Conventional soilless cultivation methods consist in feeding active principles directly to the root of the plants by means of an adapted vehicle, usually water.
In particular, Italian patent no. 1,129,081 disclosed a soilless cultivation method, termed aeroponic cultivation, which consists in feeding the crops with an aerosol in which fertilizers and active principles in general are dissolved. Said aerosol is atomized mechanically in a closed and dark environment in which the roots of the cultivated plants are immersed. The roots are supported, with removable supports interposed, by the walls that delimit the environment, and the plants are arranged so that the foliage lies outside said environment.
This method is performed by means of hollow modular chambers which are usually arranged inside conventional greenhouses even with a makeshift detachable structure.
Conventional chambers have a bowl-like base with a rectangular plan and a cover which has a trapezoidal cross-section, protrudes upwards and has, at least at the larger front walls, a plurality of aligned holes which are adapted to receive corresponding detachable supports, hereinafter termed culture plugs. The plugs have a star-shaped hole which has a lobate profile and are meant to receive the plants, which are arranged so that their roots are inside the chamber and the foliage is outside it. The density of the crops on each wall of the chamber can be changed, according to the type of plant being cultivated, by replacing the culture plugs with blind plugs.
The chambers can be used individually or in batteries; for this purpose, the base of each chamber is provided with couplings for hydraulic connection to the adjacent chambers.
This conventional cultivation method is highly satisfactory in terms of yield of harvested product, in relation to the active principles used and also because it is possible to keep the temperature inside the chamber higher than the external temperature, in order to contain the heating level of the greenhouse environment and to maintain physiological plant activity even in case of low temperatures. It also facilitates tending, simplifies harvesting, which is performed by personnel standing up, and significantly reduces, for an equal crop density, the occupied soil and therefore the surface of the greenhouses.
However, the chambers currently used to perform the above aeroponic cultivation method have many drawbacks which significantly limit the diffusion of the method. The conventional chambers are in fact produced by molding polymeric material and therefore on the one hand their dimensions can be limited for cultivation purposes but are in any case forced by the need to contain the dimensions of molding presses within reasonable limits. On the other hand, they are still rather bulky for transport, storage and handling purposes, since they are typically 180 to 200 cm high and have an equally long main base side. Their modularity is also rather rigid, in that the expansion of a battery of the chambers entails a minimum increase in the length of the greenhouse by approximately 300-350 cm for each added chamber.
The conventional chambers also have high manufacturing costs which negatively affect initial installation costs.